I would like to commence by saying it is a real
privilege to be here this evening, to have this
opportunity to be in such a fine church, to see
such a fine group of boys and girls, even though,
as the pastor says, it's not the easiest thing
to follow them, and to have the chance of sharing
with you something of the burden which God has
placed upon our hearts for the boys and girls
of the continent of Europe and to which God called
us a number of years ago as missionaries. with
child evangelism fellowship i hope that you don't
have too much problem with my irish accent i'll
do my best at the beginning anyway to speak as
slowly as possible i'll forget in about five
minutes time but for the first few minutes i'll
try to speak slowly i get into all kinds of problems
over here in usa with my accent some of the words
i say seem to be rather difficult to understand
i remember and we were sharing with pastor again
today i'd shared this story with him before but
The very first time I ever came to USA, I came
to the city of Kansas City. And when we count
in Ireland, when we're counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, we're all right until we get to 7. And
then over here in USA, the next number is the
one that causes problems because we have a kind
of a few peculiar sounds in Ireland. And it's
the next number we pronounce it 8. E -I -G -H
-T is 8. And so it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
If you knew how many telephone operators in USA
have had problems with me trying to understand
telephone numbers that have 8s in them. And I
was in Kansas City my first time here and I was
walking in a store just down the aisle looking
at the different things in the store. And a lady
stopped me and she said, excuse me, but... Could
you tell me, please, what is the price of that
article hanging up there on the wall? She said,
I'm a little bit short -sighted and wondered,
could you tell me? And when I looked up at the
price, my heart dropped because I thought there's
going to be a problem here. Because it wasn't
just one of these numbers, it was three of them.
And there was one of them and then a dot and
two more. And so I looked at the lady and told
her 888. And for some reason I never could understand.
She didn't appreciate my help. She looked at
me and walked away, and it was only afterwards
that I realized that she thought I was calling
her names instead of telling her what the price
was. I was at a Child Evangelism missionary conference
several years ago, and I was up in Colorado Springs.
And when I arrived there, the leaders of the
conference asked me if I could put a display
down in the missionary display area. I'm not
a great display person. I never have one with
me. And they said, could you put a display together?
So I did my best and I went down to Woolworths
in Denver, which they say is the largest Woolworths
in the world. And so I went down into the basement
and I went to the information desk and I said
to the girl at the information desk, excuse me,
but could you tell me where I could buy a map?
And she said, yes, just walk down there and turn
right and turn left and you'll find them there.
and so i followed her instructions and i went
down right and turned left and right and i found
myself in the middle of brushes and buckets and
all kinds of things for cleaning floors i couldn't
see any maps and so i came back to the girl the
information desk i said excuse me but i can't
i didn't see any maps there she said where did
you go and i told her she says that's where all
the maps are she said what kind of a map are
you looking for i said well i'm a missionary
with child evangelism and i was looking for a
map of europe I wanted to make a display. And
she looked at me and said, oh, you mean a map.
So I'm doing my best. I'm doing my best to try
to learn to talk English the right way. I would
like just to read to you from a chapter which
is a very favorite chapter of mine and one which
I turn back to periodically, both to read and
also to preach. In the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 16. This is a chapter which means a lot
to me for reasons which will be obvious as we
read these verses together. But in Acts chapter
16, we read, reading from verse 5, we'll just
read a few verses. But reading from verse 5,
we read, And so were the churches established
in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia, that's
this little party of Paul and Luke and Silas
and Timothy, At least. Now when they had gone
throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia,
and then we see a strange thing, and were forbidden
of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.
Forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word
in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they
are said to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit
suffered them not. Now here in verses 6 and 7,
we have the first of three experiences which
this little party passed through in these few
verses. They tried to go into Asia, but the Holy
Ghost said no. They tried to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit suffered them not. And this is
the experience of closed doors. Closed doors.
And there are times, dear friends, when God closes
doors. There are places that we want to go. There
are places that we want to go and minister. There
are forms of service we want to engage in, and
yet sometimes, in a very clear and definite way,
God closes the door. And the Spirit suffers us
not. The Holy Spirit says in our hearts, no,
that's not the thing to do. Paul here and his
little party experienced closed doors. It could
be that there's someone in this congregation
tonight, and you're going through exactly that
experience. There was something you felt you
should do. There was a direction you felt you
should go in. There was something which you thought
God had laid upon your heart. It seemed good.
It seemed right. There was a need there. You
tried to go in that direction, and yet God has
very clearly and very definitely closed the door.
The experience of closed doors. Verse 8, our
next verse. This little group we read, they passing
by Mysia, came down to Troas. I don't know how
Paul was feeling. I think if I had been in Paul's
position at this particular moment, I think I
might have felt a little bit confused, wondering,
why did God not allow me to go there? Why did
God close that door? Why has God said no to me
when I wanted to do two good things? I wanted
to go to these two places where there was such
a great need. Perhaps Paul was confused. I don't
know. Certainly, I'm sure he was praying. And
so we read in verse 9, And a vision appeared
to Paul in the night. As he comes down into Troas
on the coastline there of Turkey, of Asia Minor,
a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There
stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying,
Come over into Macedonia and help us. And this
was the second experience. Because immediately
following the experience of closed doors, there
was the experience of clear direction. Clear
direction. And Paul was learning a lesson that
many of us need to learn. That there are times
when God closes doors so that he can give us
clear direction. Very often and completely another
direction altogether. He leads us in another
way. But God gives us clear direction. I would
say to anyone in the congregation tonight who
is going through the experience of closed doors,
be patient. Wait upon the Lord and before long
God will do for you what he did for this little
party of missionaries and he will give you, as
he gave Paul, clear direction. Come over into
Macedonia. Come over into Macedonia, Paul heard,
and help us. The reason why I like this text
in Acts 16 verse 9 is because Macedonia is in
Europe and we feel a special affinity for this
text. Macedonia is over in the southeastern corner
of Europe. Most of it lies behind the Iron Curtain.
Most of it's in the country of Bulgaria, with
a part of it spreading into Yugoslavia and a
part down into Greece. But this is a European
text, in a sense. And here Paul hears this clear
direction, come over into Macedonia and help
us. And then comes the third experience. And
in a sense, the most important one of all, verse
10. And after he had seen the vision, remember,
close doors. Clear direction. And after he had
seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to
go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the
Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto
them. And this is the experience of complete
dedication. Complete dedication. God closed the
door. God closed another door. God gave clear
direction, and then from the heart of Paul and
his little missionary party came this attitude
of complete dedication. Lord, if that's where
you want us to go, if that's where you want us
to tell the good news, immediately we endeavor
to go into Macedonia. As far as Paul was concerned,
it was just another... instance in his life of
doing what God told him to do. Paul often did
this. God often directed him and Paul just immediately
did what God told him to do. But what Paul didn't
know was this, that what happened in Acts chapter
16 verse 10 was one of the most important events
in the history of the world. This was a turning
point in church history. Why did God close that
door and that door into Asia Minor? Why did God
turn Paul and his little group from Asia Minor
and turn their footsteps over onto the mainland
of Europe? Because God knew, looking into the
future years, looking into the future centuries,
looking into the next 1 ,000, 2 ,000 years, God
knew that Europe was going to be the continent
where the Christian church was going to become
best established, especially in those early days
in the southern parts of Europe. God knew that
Europe was going to be the continent of the Reformation.
God knew that Europe was going to be the continent
where the modern missionary movement would be
born. God knew that Europe was going to be a
continent of revivals. God knew that Europe was
going to be a continent from which many people
were going to come to the United States of America
and form this Christian nation which in its turn
was going to become the greatest missionary assembly
nation in the history of the world. God knew
all that. God knew that. And God said to Paul,
Paul, I want you to go to Europe. It could be,
I say to young people, especially here this evening,
God calls us, God gives us clear direction. He
looks for complete dedication in our hearts.
And you never know, and I never know, and Paul
never knew all the results of that step of complete
dedication. He never knew what was going to happen
just because that particular day he said yes
to the Lord and he went over onto the mainland
of Europe. Dear friends, Europe today, the continent
from which I come, I'm a European. The continent
from which I come is needier today than it was
2 ,000 years ago when Paul first went there.
There are more un -evangelized people in Europe
today than there were in the days of the Apostle
Paul. And there's a real sense in which Europe
would say to you here in Grace Church in Roseville,
would say to people here in USA, Europe would
say, come over into Macedonia, come over into
Europe and help us. We need you. We need the
gospel. We need missionaries. We need workers.
When I come to speak in churches in USA and I
speak about the mission field and I speak about
missionaries and I speak about mission needs,
I find that for some reason I find difficult
to understand I find that for some reason when
most people think of the mission field, and you
can test yourself to see if I'm correct, but
when most people think of the mission field,
they think of Africa, or India, or Japan, or
Latin America. Now all those are mission fields,
don't get me wrong. But how many of us think
of Europe when we think of the mission field?
How many of us realize that in Europe we have
three times the population of USA? Three times
the total population of your country in Europe,
and well over 75 % of them have yet to hear the
gospel for the first time. These are facts that
many people don't understand about Europe. I
was preaching in a church just some months ago.
I was invited to go and preach in a church in
the southern suburbs of Paris, the capital of
France, a city of five and a half million people.
And in the southern suburbs of Paris, close to
Orly Airport, for those of you who know Paris,
in a suburb close to Orly Airport, I was to preach
in a little church there. It's a suburb of, say,
100, 120 ,000 people. I preached in the church.
I came to the church. It was the basement of
an apartment block. And to get into the church,
I went down the stairs into the basement with
just a few little windows up around the top of
the wall. And in the basement of that apartment
block that morning were about 55 people. Men,
women, teenagers, boys and girls. I preached
to the congregation. Afterwards, I talked to
the pastor. And I said to the pastor, how many
churches are there here in this community? How
many churches like yours? How many churches are
there? And he looked at me in surprise. He said,
this is the only one. He says, this is the only
one. gospel witness in this suburb of Paris with
120 ,000 people, a little basement church with
55 people counting boys and girls. Now that's
typical of France. And the pastor looked at me
and said, if you had come here 10 years ago,
we weren't here. He says, I started this church
10 years ago. Before I came and started this
gospel witness, there was no gospel witness whatsoever.
Never had been a gospel witness in this community
until 10 years ago. We are a burden for Europe.
God has placed upon our hearts, not just a burden
for Europe, God has placed upon our hearts a
burden for the children of Europe. And we ask
ourselves the question, what chance have kids
got? Growing up in communities like that, when
I can sit down here in your congregation this
evening and look at these children up on the
platform and realize what these children possess,
the background that they have, the parents they
have, the church they have, the Sunday school
they have, the Christian school that many of
them attend. And I think of the multitude of
our boys and girls over there in Europe who haven't
the faintest idea who God is. Having the faintest
idea what Jesus Christ did for them. Have never
heard what sin really is. Don't know what salvation
is. Have never heard that Jesus Christ died for
them on the cross. This is the burden which God
has placed upon our hearts. We were born in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. That's our home city. We grew
up there. I was a high school teacher in Belfast.
I graduated from college, went into high school.
teaching high school. In my first year of high
school, I heard the gospel for the first time.
I was evangelized by a young missionary on a
one -to -one basis. First of all, my wife and
then I trusted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
The very first prayer almost we prayed was, Lord,
show us what you want us to do. What ministry
do you want us in? What work do you want us to
get involved in? And almost immediately, God
showed us that our ministry was to be with little
boys and girls, little children. Children in
Ireland. And for 14 years we worked with our
own Irish boys and girls with Child Evangelism
Fellowship in Ireland. Almost 20 years ago we
came here to USA and we were invited by Child
Evangelism Fellowship to be missionaries with
Child Evangelism Fellowship in Europe. To move
over onto the mainland of Europe and to try to
build a work. which would reach these unreached
children of Europe with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Almost 20 years ago, we said yes to this invitation.
And this has been our ministry and our work almost
for 20 years. We're in our 20th year as European
directors of Child Evangelism Fellowship. We
moved over to live in Switzerland so that we
could be right in the center of Europe, so that
we could be in a strategic place from which we
could build this work to reach these unreached
children. It has pleased God during these 20
years. For some reason only known to himself,
it has pleased God to bless the ministry. When
we came into the work in 1964, there were 40
full -time child evangelism fellowship workers
in Europe. 40 altogether. 35 of them were missionaries
from USA and Canada. Today, instead of 40 full
-time workers, we have 253 full -time workers.
God has multiplied our ministry six and a half
times. And I think one of the most wonderful
things is that we still just have 35 or 40 missionaries
from USA and Canada. But we have over 200 full
-time Europeans who are working full -time reaching
boys and girls in Europe with the gospel of Jesus
Christ in their own language. God has richly
blessed the work. We would be very, very thankful
indeed if you would... As God speaks to your
heart, if you would start to pray in a new way
for Europe and for Europe's children and for
our ministry among the boys and girls of Europe.
As you pray for us, if it comes to your mind,
for Sam and Sadie Dacherday, as you pray for
us in our ministry with Europe's children, remember
just three words. To make it easy, there are
three things that we're trying to do in Europe.
Three basic ministries which God has placed upon
our heart so that children will hear the gospel.
Number one, our first ministry is a ministry
to reach unreached children in Europe with the
gospel. To reach these kids in communities where
they're born, grow up, become teenagers, get
married, grow old, and die without ever once.
ever hearing the gospel. You see, friends, one
of the big differences between America and Europe,
now I know there's a big need in America. I know
that America is a country where there's a need
for much evangelism. But one of the big needs
between Europe and America is this. If anybody
in America is not saved, it's their own fault
they're not saved. The gospel is there. The gospel's
on the radio. The gospel's on TV. The gospel's
been preached through churches here and churches
there. But you see, when people in Europe, when
children in Europe are not saved, it's not because
they deliberately turn their back upon the gospel
often. It's because they never hear it. They
have never heard it from the day they're born
until the day they die. They have no chance to
hear the gospel. How can they hear without a
preacher? I know cities and communities of 20
,000, 30 ,000, 40 ,000, 50 ,000 where there's
no gospel witness at all. Never has been. And
as things stand the way they are at the moment,
there never will be. And we want to reach these
boys and girls. We want to reach them. Just simply
go and tell them that Jesus Christ died for them,
that Jesus Christ loves them and wants to save
them and make them into new creatures. And we
are thankful that last year in our different
ministries, in Child Evangelism Fellowship in
Western Europe, we were able to reach over 120
,000 such boys and girls with the gospel last
year. Over 120 ,000 children, many of whom, most
of whom, had never heard the gospel before. Our
first ministry is reaching, reaching the unreached
children. As you pray for us, pray that we'll
be able to reach more. of Europe's unreached
children. Our second ministry and the second
key word, the second burden which God has placed
upon our heart, is a burden to train, to teach
Europeans how to reach children. So that we don't
as missionaries go out and do all the work. But
that we will educate and train our Europeans.
I can remember when we came to USA for the first
time. And we attended the training school here
in USA. We had to come here because there was
no training school in Europe. There was nowhere
in Europe where we could get our training. So
we came to USA. And one of the burdens which
God placed upon our hearts. Was that when we
would go back to Europe. we should start our
own training school. We should start a place
where we could train Europeans, where we could
educate Europeans, so that they could be trained
in their own language, in their own culture,
to reach their own children with the gospel.
God led us to Switzerland. In 1971, we purchased
a property up there in the northwestern corner
of Switzerland. It's a place called Kiltsimmer.
It's in the German -speaking part of Switzerland,
almost at the German border. When we found it
first, when we saw it first, 1971, and it was
an old, desolate piece of property, which would
have qualified for a haunted house and television,
hadn't been lived in for years, 65 rooms, one
bathroom, cold water taps on each floor, holes
in the roof, holes in the ceilings, windows blown
out, cobwebs, hadn't just desolate. And yet when
we saw this place, we saw the possibilities.
And we bought the place in 1971 and we started
to rebuild it. It took us eight years. But we
have rebuilt that place until today. We have
our own school and we have our own headquarters
up there in the beautiful mountains of northwestern
Switzerland. We have a full -time staff of 31.
31 qualified people who are working with us there
at our headquarters. If you come to Europe, if
you should happen to pass through Switzerland,
come and visit us. See what God has done. Let
us know in good time that you're coming so that
we can be ready for you and we would be happy
to show you the beautiful school which God has
given us up there in the Swiss mountains. I was
just counting up recently. That up until last
year, from that school we have now graduated
over 1 ,000 students from the school which God
placed upon our hearts. These are mature students.
These are pastors, missionaries, Bible school
graduates. who come to us to learn how to evangelize
children. Our graduates are working in 60 different
countries all over Western Europe. 25 of them
are working behind the Iron Curtain. They're
working in the Middle East and Africa, the Far
East, and many parts of the world. God also gave
us a burden to educate and train Europeans through
literature. We bought a watch factory six years
ago. An old, a real old Swiss watch factory.
And in that watch factory, we have our printing
presses. And that's where we turn our literature,
60 % of which goes in behind the iron curtain,
using literature to train and educate Europeans
to reach their own boys and girls with the gospel.
As you pray for us, reaching unreached children,
training Europeans, pray that we'll reach more
children. Pray that we'll be better teachers
and that we'll train more Europeans how to do
a good job in bringing the gospel to their boys
and girls. There's one last word, one last ministry
that we are engaged in. When we came into the
work that we're now doing in 1964, the end of
1964, we were thinking of reaching and we were
thinking of training. Those were two burdens
we had in our hearts from the beginning. This
third ministry we never had thought about. We
never had dreamt that this third ministry was
possible. In 1965, God began to speak to us about
the boys and girls behind the Iron Curtain. And
God began to show to us that one half of Europe's
children live in communist Europe. And the Lord
Jesus began to show us that he died for those
children as much as he died for the children
of Western Europe. And that we had a responsibility
to reach them as much as we had to reach the
boys and girls of Western Europe. 1966, God opened
the door into Czechoslovakia. Communist Czechoslovakia.
And I can remember the thrill of that first visit
to Czechoslovakia. We were invited by a little
group of Christians to come to the Red Star Hotel
right in the heart of Czechoslovakia for a one
-week training course. And when we got to the
Red Star Hotel in Czechoslovakia, we found 135
Christians waiting for us, packed into the dining
room of that hotel, not for an hour or for a
morning or for a day, but they were there for
the week. And we started to teach them at half
past eight in the morning, and we had to finish
for half past nine in the evening. We taught
them right through all day. Thirteen hours, solid
teaching, with just brief intervals for meals.
It was a new experience for me. Here were Christians
who were really concerned for their children.
Here were Christians when I suggested, let's
pray, they would stand up and one would start
praying here and one would start praying here
and three or four or five, six were all praying
at the same time and then somebody would start
weeping for the children and praying for the
children. Before long, the whole group were in
tears praying for their boys and girls. We began
to see that there were little groups of Christians
behind the Iron Curtain. And God gave us a ministry,
and our third key word, God gave us a ministry
to help. To help, and I think of this verse that
I've shared with you this evening. In Acts chapter
16 verse 9. Come over into Macedonia, which is
in Eastern Europe. Come over into Macedonia and
help us. And I remember one dear pastor in Czechoslovakia
who came up to me and he threw his arms around
me. just enveloped me in his arms. And he said,
brother, thanks for coming in over into Macedonia
and helping us. We need your help. Show us how
we can reach our boys and girls with the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We now have 11 full -time workers
who are working exclusively behind the iron curtain.
That's their ministry. That's their complete
ministry. They live in Vienna and one or two
other places, and they travel in and out and
in and out to help the Christians behind the
Iron Curtain to reach their children with the
gospel. I was in Poland three years ago. I was
invited to a training course, a one -week training
course in a little country church in the south
of Poland. The snow was on the ground, so much
snow, temperature away below zero. And I remember
coming to that little country church and wondering
who on earth is going to be here. They have no
automobiles. Who's going to come here through
all this snow? And when I got into the little
church, I found packed into that church 276 people
from all over Poland. One man had traveled 24
hours to be there, 500 miles. They lived in homes
around the church. Some of the homes were 7,
8, 9, 10 miles from the church and they walked
in through the snow every morning to be in class
at half past eight and to sit there in class
all day and then walk back out through the snow
in the evening because they wanted help. Help
us to reach our children with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Helping them through teaching. Helping
them through literature. We discovered the Christians
behind the Iron Curtain. I remember my first
visit to Poland. I talked with a brother. I said
to that brother, Brother, what materials? Now,
here was I naively coming from the West. What
materials do you use with your children? And
he looked at me. He said, What do you mean, what
materials? We don't have any materials. You know,
in the West, we go into our bookstore. Should
I use Gospel Light or Scripture Press or CEF
or David C. Cook? And we see this whole array
of literature. And we learned in those early
days in Eastern Europe that those dear friends
had nothing. Nothing, nothing. No books, no materials,
no teaching outlines, no visuals, nothing whatsoever.
And I can remember we said to them, as the Lord
helps us, we are going to put into your hands
the materials that you need so that you can reach
your boys and girls with the gospel. And since
that time, we have taken in many, many, many,
many thousands of books. Many thousands of sets
of visuals, outlines. We've taken them into six
of the communist countries at least and put them
into the hands of the believers. Today, there's
hardly an evangelical church in Poland that's
not using our child evangelism material. Helping,
helping the Christians behind the iron curtain
to reach their children. Dear friends, I think
the ministry of reaching children is one of the
most important and most strategic ministries
in the world today. These are the Europeans of
the future. These are the teachers, the policemen,
the parents of the future. We want to reach them
now before they become hardened in Western Europe
and Eastern Europe. We want to see boys and girls
reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We desperately
need your prayers. We would ask you to pray for
us. If you want a little visual reminder, we
have a prayer card. My wife is also with me.
Perhaps I could ask her to stand. sitting down
here so that you can see her also. And we would
be very thankful, as it comes to your mind, if
you'd like to take one of these cards. I've left
some out at the table at the outside of the door.
If you'd like to take one and pin it up somewhere
and pray for us. Also, our latest prayer letter,
our report on our work, you'll also find it there
with lots of detail as to what we have been doing
during the last 12 months. We're over now in
USA for four months doing deputation work. Pray
for us as we live in the car, travel around,
present our work, as we pray that God will raise
up more churches and more individuals who will
feel that they should pray for us and also that
they should support our work. We do also need
financial support. Pray that God will raise up
churches and individuals who will become involved
in reaching boys and girls in Europe with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. I just want to tell you
one story to finish with. Something that happened
to me just three months ago, very, very recent.
I was visiting in a church in Germany just in
January before we left Europe to come over to
USA. It was a most unusual church because it
was a Russian church. It was not a German church,
it was a Russian church. It was in Germany, but
they asked me to come and preach at their service.
And when I got there, I discovered this was a
100 % Russian church. These were Russians who
were given permission to leave Russia about seven
years ago. And they had come to Germany and they
had lived in the same community and built their
own church, preserved their Russian customs.
The ladies sat on the right -hand side of the
church, and the men sat on the left -hand side
of the church. And the service lasted two hours,
and then the 20 minutes break, and then they
gave me another two hours. And with a wonderful
time together, there were 750 Russians packed
into the church that night in this church up
there in northern Germany. But what happened
after the church service was very interesting.
I was talking to the pastor of the church. And
I said to the pastor, I said, Pastor, had you
a church when you were in Russia? He said, yes.
He said, I had a church which was unofficial,
it was illegal, unregistered. And he says, the
reason why my church was unregistered was because
we brought the children into church. It's a law
in Russia, there is a prohibition in Russia against
bringing children to church. You're not allowed
children in church until the age of 18, I suppose
you know that. No child can come to church until
he's 18 years old. That's the official law in
Russia. But this pastor said to me, we still
brought our children to church because we felt
there was a law higher than the law of the government.
There was the law of God, and we obeyed that
law, and we brought our children to church. He
said, in my congregation there was a lady. There
was a woman upon whose heart God had placed a
burden for these boys and girls. And he said,
every Sunday morning during service, She took
50 children over to one side, over to one corner
of the church, and she taught the word of God
to those 50 children every Sunday morning. He
said, he told me this three months ago, he said,
one Sunday morning, the back door of the church
opened, and in came the police, the KGB. They
said, he said, they did this quite often. But
they came in this morning, and they found this
lady sitting, teaching these 50 children the
word of God. And they came up to her and they
took her away to the police station. And the
following week there was a court trial. And that
lady was sentenced. She was tried on a charge
of sedition. Influencing the children against
the government on a trumped up charge such as
that. And that lady was sentenced to three years
in prison. For teaching the word of God to a
group of 50 boys and girls. And the pastor told
me, he said, Brother Sam. He says, it would have
broken your heart to have seen those children
when the police took that lady away to prison.
He said, all the children from the Sunday school
came out and they stood with the tears streaming
down their cheeks, waving at their teacher and
saying, teacher, we will be praying for you.
Hurry back, hurry back. He says, those kids stood
in tears as their teacher was taken away to prison.
He wasn't being sentimental. He was just telling
me a story of what happened. He said she spent
three years in prison. No remission. You don't
get remissions in Russian prisons. She spent
three years in prison. He says, I can remember
the Sunday morning that she came back to church.
Three years had passed by. She came into church
that Sunday morning, much thinner, initiated
after those three years in that Russian prison.
She came into church that Sunday morning, and
then he looked at me, and he says, do you know
what she did that Sunday morning? Now, I knew
what he was going to say, but I wanted him to
say it. I said, what did she do? He says, as
soon as she came into church that Sunday morning,
she gathered her children together over in the
corner, opened her Bible, and continued where
she had left off three years previously. Now,
I don't know what a story like that does to you.
I think our first reaction is to say, well, it
must be wonderful to have people like that around,
people who are so dedicated. But after we think
about it a little bit more, don't we ask ourselves
this question, would I be willing to do something
like that? If I knew the KGB were to come in
through that door now and take me to prison for
preaching, would I still be preaching? If I knew
there was the possibility of getting a three
-year prison sentence, would I still work with
children? Now, things like that don't happen
in America. Don't happen like that in Western
Europe. But are we using the freedom we have
to do what God wants us to do? Do we have that
same spirit of complete dedication that Paul
had, that this lady had? Are we willing, whatever
God has sent to us this evening, something he
wants us to do, there's no prison sentence involved,
there's no danger of anything like that as far
as you and I are concerned. But are we willing
to pay whatever price God wants us to pay to
be obedient to him? Is there someone here struggling
tonight? God speaking to you about going to Bible
college. God speaking about full -time work,
missionary service. God speaking about teaching
a Sunday school class. God speaking about something
that he wants us to do and we're holding back.
Are we willing? God perhaps has closed doors.
He has given us clear direction. Are we willing
to be like Paul and say, here I am, Lord. Immediately
we endeavor to go into Macedonia. Assuredly gathering
that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel
unto them. May God give us as a church, as individuals
tonight, something of that same spirit. No matter
what it costs, Lord. No matter what price I have
to pay. I'm going to obey you completely, Lord.
And do what you have been asking me to do. Our
Heavenly Father tonight. Even as we think of
this lady in Russia who was willing to pay this
price, we are ashamed, Lord, because it has cost
us so little to serve thee. Oh, Father, if you're
calling us, if you're calling someone here in
our congregation tonight to step out, to do something,
something that might involve something that cost
price. O Lord, help us to be like Paul and completely
dedicate ourselves immediately to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that thou hast called us
to preach the gospel unto them. And Lord, tonight
as I stand before this congregation, I can't
help but think of the boys and girls there in
Russia, the boys and girls in Poland, the boys
and girls in Western Europe. Father, this is
the burden you've placed upon my heart and the
heart of my wife. the heart of us over there
in Europe, O Lord, show us what we can do to
bring the gospel to these kids, these children,
who have never heard thy name properly explained,
have never heard the gospel. We pray for a mighty
work of the Spirit of God in the hearts of the
children here in America and over there in Europe,
and show us what part we can play. in reaching
them for thee. I thank thee for this opportunity,
Lord, to be here tonight for this wonderful church.
Bless it, Lord. Bless us all as we go forward
to serve thee completely and to do whatever you
ask us to do. I pray this for Jesus Christ's
sake and for his glory alone. Amen.